Beware of conservative magazines bearing cover stories

By
Jennifer Rubin

Haley Barbour has gotten himself in a heap of trouble. By praising White Citizens' Councils, appearing clueless about the history of racial injustice in the South, giving the Democrats a free swing at him and reviving recollections of another shockingly inappropriate racial statement, Barbour has gone a long way toward blowing up his presidential candidacy before it began. Other than the amazing propensity of seemingly sophisticated politicians to say remarkably self-defeating things, the episode is noteworthy in several respects.

First, this is the second Republican contender who was profiled by the Weekly Standard, afforded an in-depth and largely positive treatment focusing on his success as a governor, and who wound up making a mess of his debut on the conservative national stage. The first was Gov. Mitch Daniels, who let on that he wanted a "truce" on social issues, thereby inflaming social conservatives. The lesson here is that governors may be experienced executives, but they don't necessarily navigate well (or take direction from nervous aides) when thrust into the national limelight.

Second, this recalls the race for the Republican National chairmanship in 2009, when Katon Dawson, the South Carolina state party chair and the leading contender at the time for the RNC, got himself in hot water with the revelation that he belonged to a whites-only country club. That, frankly, is how Michael Steele got the job -- the most formidable opponent imploded and the party couldn't face the prospect of a PR disaster just months after Barack Obama was elected as the first black president. It also recalls Rand Paul's mega-gaffe on the 1964 Civil Rights Act. (Many conservatives, including myself, roundly criticized him for that one, but he recovered.)

In sum, when Republicans misstep on the issue of race, they are rightly and roundly lambasted. Some complain about a double standard (Harry Reid said dumb things, too!), but the fact remains that the vast majority of modern conservatives don't tolerate this sort of thing, and it can be fatal to one's political aspirations. The notion that this is all part of a "Southern strategy" (which Greg Sargent tells us is being discussed in the left-leaning blogosphere) is tinfoil-hat sort of stuff that reminds me how little the left understands today's conservatives.

Third, it is fortunate for the GOP and possible candidates that some early coverage affords potential supporters, donors, volunteers and the candidates themselves time to consider their options and understand fully what the bright glare of presidential politics is all about.

And finally, this is a reminder that candidates who look promising in 2010 may not be around for long, and those who stay out of the fray for as long as possible may be the savviest contenders.

I've always thought Mr Barbour was a good chairman of the RNC and has done sterling work as governor of a southern state. But national leader? Fair or not, his image as an overweight, white, good ole boy is a characterture of all that is such a turnoff to so many people. There's no way he can overcome that image.

So Barbour's recollection of actually growing up in the South is different than the bigoted Stereotype Yankees conjure up when they denigrate and sneer at all people in the South? So What? This is fake outrage and the writer is a moron. Don't these people have anything better to do than go around and try to find some reason to be outraged or offended over the most trivial, comment that they have to recast in order to find grounds for the faux offense? How does some WP dingbat have any clue what it was like in the South when Barbour was growing up? All they know is the false narrative some dingbat, bigoted Northern educational system mythologizes and fabricates. Pleeeeze!?

Altghough Gov. barbour may have been oblivious of the racial wrongs of the 1960s when he attended college, so he says, it may take a toll on his already complicated run for teh White House. I do not think he would have made a viable GOP national candidate he does not have the personality or the broad-based support he will need to pull it off.

Nixon decided on a "southern strategy" that pulled some of the less reconstructed into the Republican party. Had it not been for that strategy, Republicans might have become a small regional party. What happens is that you either have a big tent, into which come some that you would prefer remained democrats, or you have a smaller tent--or possibly a phone booth. There are no permenant majorities.

Altghough Gov. barbour may have been oblivious of the racial wrongs of the 1960s when he attended college, so he says, it may take a toll on his already complicated run for teh White House. I do not think he would have made a viable GOP national candidate he does not have the personality or the broad-based support he will need to pull it off.

Nixon decided on a "southern strategy" that pulled some of the less reconstructed into the Republican party. Had it not been for that strategy, Republicans might have become a small regional party. What happens is that you either have a big tent, into which come some that you would prefer remained democrats, or you have a smaller tent--or possibly a phone booth. There are no permenant majorities.

Jennifer,
You may be a conservative but you are not typical. You are not a bigoted, hate-filled, uneducated southerner.
You are probably among the 10% or so of "country club" Republicans who really believe that lower taxes is the solution to all ills.

The Republican Class War
Ramesh Ponnuru &
Reihan Salam
"There is now a class divide in the Republican party. Mitt Romney, the leading establishment candidate for the party’s presidential nomination in 2012, draws support from affluent, college-educated Republicans. Voters without college degrees, on the other hand, look more favorably on Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin — the potential candidates who most consistently rail against “elites” and “country-clubbers.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/255596/republican-class-war-ramesh-ponnuru

Haley Barbour has provided a number of "Boss Hogg" moments that cause one to shudder at such a display of ignorance. Then shudder again that one so ignorant achieved elective office.

His attempt at revisionist history is insulting enough, but he added insult to injury with his comments regarding the BP oil spill. (He thought BP was being punished by being forced to establish such a large fund to reimburse victims of the oil spill.)

Through all his sins against an intelligent electorate, as well as his assault on the English language, he has demonstrated he is not ready for the national stage, much less the world stage.

I used to consider the Republican party as racist but in recent years it has become rather disciplined and race-neutral while the Democrats have gone overboard in openly racist and misogynistic behavior. They even, much to their regret today, shoved an affirmative action president upon us with the oft noted vote for Obama to prove you are not racist attitude. That's turned out badly for all of us.

Now, Haley Barbour shows us that there are a few racist dinosaurs left in the Republican party. Barbour won't be missed in the upcoming presidential elections.

Haley 'Boss Hogg' Barbour has been in government a few decades now, and if we can get an anti-American manchurian communist elected as president, then Boss Hogg is a shoe in. The communist and racist Democrat party is a shambles, and will destroy the lives and reputations of anyone; hell, Hillary even brought out Obama's term paper from kindergarten, where he bluntly stated that he had presidential ambitions. Barbour was no different than Clinton growing up in the south, other than he didn't pretend that he loved black people so much as Slick did. How many black kids did Slick grow up around or introduced to his white friends, or Hillary even. Barbour should go on the warpath, because his supporters will stand firmly behind him, and neutral observers already know the leftist Democrat bag of personal destruction tricks. And the leftist rags are so desperate to sell papers and grab eyeballs, that they will print and say anything hoping something will keep a captured audience. 'Boss Hogg' for prezdent.

As a devout Republican, I say this fine Son of the South is a worthy successor to my namesake,Mississippi Senator (and governor) Theodore G. Bilbo (1887-1947), who, although a Democrat (before that party went communist), was on the right side of all the issues of concern to the modern Republican Party.

"Some complain about a double standard (Harry Reid said dumb things, too!), but the fact remains that the vast majority of modern conservatives don't tolerate this sort of thing.."

Yes, Harry Reid said "dumb" things but they weren't racially toxic - they were simply misinformed.

And in my experience - growing up the middle of conservatism and attending church with mostly conservatives - many and most conservatives across the country not only tolerate but secretly celebrate racial slurs and poltical denial of civil rights issues. Spend a week in th heartland and have a candid conversation at the local coffee shop. It can be shocking. Of course you have to be undercover as a WASP to get the most candid comments.

I really don't think anyone was seriously considering Haley Barbour for the GOP canidate. (Likely even Barbour himself knows he was just foddor for the rumour mill.) The idea is to put up a few straw dog "possibles" just to make the serious canidates look "not that bad" by comparision.

"when Republicans misstep on the issue of race, they are rightly and roundly lambasted... the fact remains that the vast majority of modern conservatives don't tolerate this sort of thing."
This is also "tinfoil-hat sort of stuff", like the Civil War wasn't really about slavery. I think "magical thinking" could be another term for it.

Oh no, we all do understand modern conservatives very well. Cut government without specifying what you can cut without being turfed out by grandma demanding her social security, invade foreign lands while being clueless about the culture that you have decided to alter, give pay raises to your hard working lobbyists but make sure that qualified Federal employees get pay freezes or cuts, denigrate science and rational thought to keep the social conservatives pacified ... Did I leave something out? I would back fiscal conservatives but these charlatans don't qualify. I forgot: Make sure that you preach liberty and free speech but hide the moneybags that you kowtow to.

Replying to:
"So Barbour's recollection of actually growing up in the South is different than the bigoted Stereotype Yankees conjure up when they denigrate and sneer at all people in the South? So What? This is fake outrage and the writer is a moron. Don't these people have anything better to do than go around and try to find some reason to be outraged or offended over the most trivial, comment that they have to recast in order to find grounds for the faux offense? How does some WP dingbat have any clue what it was like in the South when Barbour was growing up? All they know is the false narrative some dingbat, bigoted Northern educational system mythologizes and fabricates. Pleeeeze!?
Posted by: beachbum09"

Beachbum, "pleeeze" spare us your snide, ignorant claims of liberal conspiracies. The only "false narrative" of what the civil rights era was like in the South is the one Barbour offers and you endorse.

I was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana almost exactly when he was, and let me assure you that most local politicians back then, from both parties, were not only on the wrong side of history but proud of it.

The difference is that most Democrats have gotten the memo that times have changed and such despicable attitudes no longer pass the smell test. Too bad that's not true of Barbour or many Republicans--or you, evidently.

There are two Barbours: the first is the efficient and effective governor who guided the state through the aftermath of Katrina; the second is the most shamelessly partisan, party-first-and-screw-everything-else republican in the nation. Probably a much better than average RNC chairman, and effective fundraiser, but president? Never. Barbour's blindness to the truth of race relations in Mississippi is appalling. What's more appalling is the suspicion that his sugar-coating is not a crafty, calculating rewrite of history, but a bona fide ignorance, willful or otherwise, of what actually happened right under his nose in his own hometown, let alone places where the klan really did run amok, leaving a trail of blood, tears, terror, broken lives and broken bodies behind. Most Mississippians, black and white, have labored to change the political and economic landscape of the state. Most white Mississippians have come to recognize the sins of omission and willful blindness which occurred because people of good will either had to learn to abjure the sin of racism, or learn the price of keeping silent in the face of so much vitriol and hatred from the angry, agitated idiots such as "Preacher" Killen of the Goodman-Chaney-Schwerner murders. An Episcopal priest told me as a young man on the cusp of the Meredith integration at Ole Miss: "There's a war coming, and you're going to have to choose sides since there aren't going to be any bystanders. Are you going to be a part of the problem, or a part of the solution? Make up your mind, because what you choose will color the rest of your life." He was right. Perhaps Barbour needs to do a bit of soul-searching and reach that same crossroads and decision. Plainly, he's not there yet.

I find it odd that you attempt to equate Haley Barbour's unreconstructed view of Southern racial mores with Mitch Daniels' attempt to call a truce on social issues. I find Barbour's views reprehensible; Daniels' perspective seems to me born of Midwestern common sense. If both are viewed by as disqualifying one from a shot at the Presidency, I wonder whom the Republicans CAN nominate who stands a real chance of being elected President.

"when Republicans misstep on the issue of race, they are rightly and roundly lambasted... the fact remains that the vast majority of modern conservatives don't tolerate this sort of thing."
This is also "tinfoil-hat sort of stuff", like the Civil War wasn't really about slavery. I think "magical thinking" could be another term for it.

Couldn't agree more. Jennifer, you spend too much time among your establishment friends. Even here in Ohio, the "Southern Strategy" tactics still resonate with a large majority of the Republican electorate. They just realize it's no longer wise to talk about such things except in 'safe' company. I grew up in the South, so I DO know what it was like & Mr. Barbour is just trying to delude people.

The difference is that most Democrats have gotten the memo that times have changed and such despicable attitudes no longer pass the smell test. Too bad that's not true of Barbour or many Republicans--or you, evidently.

Posted by: DCSteve1 | December 21, 2010 10:16 AM

Yeah, like Democrat jew Rendell of Pennsylvania stating that Lynn Swann couldn't win the governorship there, because he was black. Yeah, times have changed Democrats.

Haley Barbour wants to run for President and he may need the “colored” vote so he is trying to shed his racist historical background. If anything, this interview reveals how brain dead this guy is. Simply because “he doesn’t remember it being all that bad” shows he was/is oblivious to the pain that was experienced during that period. People like him see nothing wrong with the way they behaved during that period and would gladly do it again! Only a fool would believe this crap. If Mississippi was so cordial to blacks gaining civil rights why did Ronald Reagan fly all the way from California to Meridian MS ( where two white civil rights workers along with one black were murdered) to announce his candidacy for President of the United States? He was dog whistling to the entire white population that he would put those blacks in their place. While Governor Barbour may want to be President he will NEVER be able to live down his acquiesce to racism in his beloved Mississippi! He’s a racist and his state’s history, while may be forgiven, it will never be forgotten.

Did anyone actually READ what he said? He was speaking ONLY to Yazoo City where the Citizen's Council actually banned the KKK and arranged for a peaceful integration of the schools. How is that racist?

This fat almost obese good old boy former
Gov Haley Barbour needs to sit down,shut up
and stop embarassing himself and the GOP by
retiring into the dustbin of history as he
has blown all chance at ever even being nominated by the Republican Party for President or even dog catcher by his own
stupidity and stupid foolish remarks,as far as,this former Republican now an Independent Voter is concerned.

The GOP needs to send him,and Amnesty John
McCain and Mitch McConnell packing off to
a senior citizens retirement home now.

Did anyone actually READ what he said? He was speaking ONLY to Yazoo City where the Citizen's Council actually banned the KKK and arranged for a peaceful integration of the schools. How is that racist?

People - do your homework.

Posted by: mwcob | December 21, 2010 10:27 AM

Nah, they got the memo, and name calling and hurling racial and personal slurs is the Democrat operating precedure. But just as with Palin, it will haunt them as long as they want it to. Boss Hogg for prezdent.

Did anyone actually READ what he said? He was speaking ONLY to Yazoo City where the Citizen's Council actually banned the KKK and arranged for a peaceful integration of the schools. How is that racist?

People - do your homework.

Posted by: mwcob | December 21, 2010 10:27 AM |

~~~~

Did you do your research history?

The Citizens Council, much better known as the "WHITE" Citizens Council was an American white supremacist organization formed in 1954. With about 60,000 members, mostly in the South, the group was well known for its opposition to racial integration.

Its issues involved the protection of "European-American heritage" from those of other ethnicities.

You must start to better researching your history and STOP trying to revise it.

the only particular significance to boss hog's little presidential boomlet was that it demonstrated how radical the once respectable g.o.p. has become. is it imaginable that strom thurmond would have been considered presidential timber by the republican party in the 70s? the self inflicted wound of tolerating bigots for their votes has become gangrenous. even the bandage of m.s.m. niavete can no longer hide the smell.

Barbour’s memory of the segregated South not being so bad is probably very accurate. As long as you were a white heterosexual male protestant, segregation worked fine. But please everybody get over your “the modern South is so racist fantasies.” I’ve spent large parts of my life in both the North and South and the North is by far more segregated and in practice more racist. It’s easiest to believe yourself free of latent racist tendencies when there are no black folks living in your suburb.

It seems to me that the Republicans are in a tough spot to challenge Obama. If they get someone who is not a crazy (like the NJ Governor), they risk losing all of their base. If they get someone like this guy or Palin, they will lose all of the independents. If things (as in the economy) get better, even ever so slightly, Obama is in for another term.

I remember when Ronald Reagan kicked off his presidential campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, and many of us wondered, what the?
Why there? Was he there to celebrate the justice our nation offered the three civil rights workers who were murdered there?
Was he there, in the heart of the South, to remind them of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and how they contributed to its passage?
No. He was there to declare to them that his vision was just like their vision: a pre-1964 world, before all those onerous federal laws telling them how to live their lives, who could eat in their restaurants, who could attend their schools, who could drink out of their water fountains, and who could be murdered should those values be violated.
Haley Barbour is merely signaling The Gipper's vision.

the only particular significance to boss hog's little presidential boomlet was that it demonstrated how radical the once respectable g.o.p. has become. is it imaginable that strom thurmond would have been considered presidential timber by the republican party in the 70s? the self inflicted wound of tolerating bigots for their votes has become gangrenous. even the bandage of m.s.m. niavete can no longer hide the smell.

Posted by: jimfilyaw | December 21, 2010 10:35 AM |

Spare us, MSM is how the current racial divider in thief got where is now.

Barbour's comments won't get him into any trouble with GOP primary voters. They basically consist of the former Dixicrats and religious conservatives. The former are perfectly fine with inferences about race and latter don't care so long as abortion, gays, and prayer in school are given due support.

He'll be OK for the nomination. Now, the GENERAL election is another story. I'm sure the national party is wringing it's hands, but hey, they chose to dance with the theocrat and dixiecrat devils, so they get what they deserve.

Replyhing to:
lol..........Gotta love how the left-wing POST is always looking out for the hero's and Party, the Democrats.. How does what Barbour say compare to our Great Divider-in-Chief engaging in Race Politics when he told an Hispanic group: ...." we need to punish our enemies" referring to Americans who would vote Republican on November 2nd.....? The dirty POST CENSORED that......POST = just a dirty dishonest left-wing rag. Posted by: allenridge"

Allenridge, I just entered the search term "punish our enemies" in the W. Post search site. Contrary to your false claim, SIX citations for Post articles and blogs came up, all referencing Pres. Obama's remarks.

I don't know whether you're intentionally lied or are just too lazy to do basic research. But either way, you owe Post readers an apology, though I doubt someone as low class as you is capable of admitting error. For your atonement, try sparing us any more of your ignorant rants.

Haley Barber - whom I like personally - never had a chance in hell of winning the nomination, much less the Presidency. And I would like to point out that "conservative" columnists who take pseudo-moralistic jabs at conservative politicians should quit their current gig and go into politics themselves. That's what they're doing anyway; journalism is just the vehicle of a wannabe.

Very typical of your ilk, georgedixon1...stating and 'remembering' your own version of the facts:

jim Crow Law: Written and enforced by
(SOUTHERN)Democrats
George Wallace-(SOUTHERN)democrat
Lestor Maddox-(SOUTHERN)democrat
Civil War started by...(SOUTHERN)democrats...to defend their ownership of black slaves
KKK-started by (SOUTHERN)democrats to oppose Reconstruction

The South suffered, as does America under (SOUTHERN)democrats who fled enmass to the (REPUBLICAN) Party when things didn't go there way (re: Civil Rights progress) and they were courted by Nixons's Southern Strategy.

From the cotton plantation to the false narratives about 'quotas', 'reverse discrimination' and 'social engineering', democrats and Blacks have indeed had a difficult time battling injustice, closeted racists, and economic and criminal justice paradigms that in many cases have been systematically stacked against them...and yet in spite of policies and people like you, we will persevere and survive!

This op-ed is hogwash, from first sentence to last. All Barbour said was that he had a good childhood and that, as a 15-year-old boy, he was more interested in girls and cars. How on earth does attending an MLK speech in Mississippi at that time make him a bigot or a racist? More important, why isn't the 12% of the population that is black speaking out against political interests that continue using them as a kickball on the school playground?

Tin foil hats? Out of touch left? Yet, you completely contradict yourself, after you just tell us how two highly placed Republicans--no make that three--have made huge racial gaffes in the last two years. In the newspaper business that I know, two events make a trend and three confirms a movement. People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones etc...

It seems to me that the Republicans are in a tough spot to challenge Obama. If they get someone who is not a crazy (like the NJ Governor), they risk losing all of their base. If they get someone like this guy or Palin, they will lose all of the independents. If things (as in the economy) get better, even ever so slightly, Obama is in for another term.

Posted by: sharedgum | December 21, 2010 10:39 AM

Obama has lost most of the independents, and most shall not return, because he sold himself as a fraud.

It's so early why worry about this stuff now. I'm sure the author hasn't a clue on what's about to happen in Nov. 2012. Maybe Obama better start doing his job at a higher level( see approval rating) before we worry about who's gonna replace him.

This idiot has imploded before he even threw his hat in the ring! The problem with these race-baiting politicians like Haley Barbour and his buddy Trent Lott is that their whole world view is Southern Strategy centric. That is all they know. Unfortunately these fools have been successful in the past in exploding race and pitting the American working class along races! I think the better days of that brand of politics has passed.

georgedixon1, thanks for the history lesson. Those factors will no doubt loom large in the upcoming election of 1960.

It's funny how the GOP and their right-wing media shills keep harping on "class warfare" when it is they who have the problem. The tension between country-club Romney Republicans and trailer-trash Palin 'Pugs will eventually fission the Party and permanently marginalize it. It makes one long for the days of Eisenhower and Nixon.

I'm always surprised when conservative writers are surprised by the racism of conservative politicians.
The truth is conservative politics is based on reviving the past. A looking back, if you will. A yearning to slow progress, to hold the line, to stay with the status quo.
During the 1770s these folks would have been loyalists.
In the 1860s they were secessionists, because the rest of the country wanted to move past slavery, which every other western nation had done away with. Not conservatives, they wanted things to stay the same.
Progressives in the 1900s pushed back against the conservatism of the trusts owned by Carnegie and Rockefeller among others. Of course they pushed back with the income tax and the federal reserve.
In the 50s and 60s these were the Dixie-crats, they wanted the sameness and tradition of segregation to continue, Nixon exploited this for votes in the 70s.
And by the 80s until today, they are the foundation of the conservative base.
Why is anyone ever surprised by their lack of progress when the very ideal they follow means the opposite?

Replyhing to:
lol..........Gotta love how the left-wing POST is always looking out for the hero's and Party, the Democrats.. How does what Barbour say compare to our Great Divider-in-Chief engaging in Race Politics when he told an Hispanic group: ...." we need to punish our enemies" referring to Americans who would vote Republican on November 2nd.....? The dirty POST CENSORED that......POST = just a dirty dishonest left-wing rag. Posted by: allenridge"

Allenridge, I just entered the search term "punish our enemies" in the W. Post search site. Contrary to your false claim, SIX citations for Post articles and blogs came up, all referencing Pres. Obama's remarks.

I don't know whether you're intentionally lied or are just too lazy to do basic research. But either way, you owe Post readers an apology, though I doubt someone as low class as you is capable of admitting error. For your atonement, try sparing us any more of your ignorant rants.

The comment that people on the left don't understand the right is deeply troubling. We don't understand why some conservatives are racist?

In any case, I think we've long known that Gov. Barbour has held views on race that are troubling and unbecoming of someone living in a multicultural society in the 21st century.

I disagree with Gov. Daniels on many issues, but it would be best for the country if the Republicans elected someone in his mold as their Presidential nominee. Daniels is smart and pragmatic. If the Republicans elect someone like Barbour or Palin, they can go ahead and either self destruct or take the country down with them.

Did anyone actually READ what he said? He was speaking ONLY to Yazoo City where the Citizen's Council actually banned the KKK and arranged for a peaceful integration of the schools. How is that racist?
People - do your homework.
Posted by: mwcob |
---
Mwcob, I’d recommend you follow your own advice – do your homework. It’s not only racist, it’s factually incorrect.

You’re not armed with a full complement of (or any) facts. I doubt you’ll take the time and follow your own suggestion, so here’s a little help for you. Before you lamely start shooting the messenger, the articles contain copies of actual documentation from the Citizen’s Council.

Haley has already locked up the bubba vote before the campaign season has started; he is going to be a front running candidate in every state south of the Mason Dixon line.

In case the WAPO hasn't woken up to the new reality of our nation, it is all about pitting red state values against blue state ones and hoping the economy will be so far into the crapper, that moderates will vote for anyone but the party in charge.

What is most revealing about Barbour's comments relative to his remembrance of what his world was like during the time of ML King and the struggle for racial equality was how ol Haley and his buds were more concerned with making out with the honeys in Yazoo City than in any real understanding of what was going on. We just had eight years of a President with similar life experience and how did that work out?

Haley Barber would be the perfect Republican candidate -- not only could he lead the current Republican class war of the rich against the middle class, he could open up a second front by becoming open about the TeaParty and Republican's quiet race war against blacks and Latinos.There are no more Dirksen's or Eisenhower's in the Republican Party, only southern strategy Nixon types. It's not that they are bigots -- its just that theyll do anything to win an election, including harnessing bigotry and dirty tricks (Remember Willy Horton and the ads against Harold Ford)

As I said, Haley Barbour would be the perfect Republican presidential candidate.

Civil War started by...democrats...to defend their ownership of black slaves

KKK-started by democrats to oppose Reconstruction

The South suffered, as does America under democrats

From the cotton plantation to the welfare plantation, democrats and Black have had an odd relationship

Posted by: georgedixon1
----------
Hey George,

Are you planning to acknowledge, at some point, that the conservative Dems who supported these policies and ideas migrated to the Republican Party decades years ago, or are you just hoping that readers have forgotten their history?

Maybe Haley Barbour should hire you to do his PR; you show a propensity to whitewash (pun intended) certain details.

Haley Barber would be the perfect Republican candidate -- not only could he lead the current Republican class war of the rich against the middle class, he could open up a second front by becoming open about the TeaParty and Republican's quiet race war against blacks and Latinos.There are no more Dirksen's or Eisenhower's in the Republican Party, only southern strategy Nixon types. It's not that they are bigots -- its just that theyll do anything to win an election, including harnessing bigotry and dirty tricks (Remember Willy Horton and the ads against Harold Ford)

As I said, Haley Barbour would be the perfect Republican presidential candidate.

beachbum09says "So Barbour's recollection of actually growing up in the South is different than the bigoted Stereotype Yankees conjure up when they denigrate and sneer at all people in the South?"

Whatever, beachbum. Barbour was telling the truth about his experience. Of course he doesn't remember it as that bad, he wasn't concerned about the lives of his black neighbors then and still doesn't seem interested in understanding what life was like for them during segregation. This doesn't meet my definition of racism, but I say it shows very unflattering racial insensitivity for someone who's supposed to be the governor of all Mississippians, and is thinking of running to be President of all Americans.

BEACHBUM09 said: "How does some WP dingbat have any clue what it was like in the South when Barbour was growing up? All they know is the false narrative some dingbat, bigoted Northern educational system mythologizes and fabricates. Pleeeeze!?"

RUNAWAYTEXAN is saying: I can think of innumerable ways in which the writer could know what it was like when this person was growing up. The primary way is reading. You should try this if you can. You need to educate yourself, because you are an ignorant (choose any expletive that comes to your small mind).

What is most revealing about Barbour's comments relative to his remembrance of what his world was like during the time of ML King and the struggle for racial equality was how ol Haley and his buds were more concerned with making out with the honeys in Yazoo City than in any real understanding of what was going on. We just had eight years of a President with similar life experience and how did that work out?

Posted by: bobfbell | December 21, 2010 11:10 AM

Better he was making out with American honeys on American soil, than marching around with anti-American communists as was the current fixture in the Oval Office was doing during his youth.

Yea the republican party is not bigoted. Just think about that a bit. Now think about the Willy Horton ads and despicalbe ads in the Senate campaign against Harold Ford. Oh and lets not forget the voter suppression efforts of Jeb Bush in Florida 2000 and in Ohio in 2004 by Republican governors looking to shape the race.

The party is not bigoted -- it just harnesses bigotry and dirty tricks as one of its electoral mainstays.

When will the Democratic Party stop thinking it is still 1967?
Even those of us who were teenagers in the 1960's are tired of re-fighting the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights era in the political arena.

I really enjoyed reading this profile/interview of Haley Barbour only two days after I saw the film "My Dog Skip", based on Willie Morris' childhood in Yazoo City, Mississippi. It is too bad that Mr. Morris, who passed in 1999, was not Barbour's actual contemporary, because then we would have a genuine counterpoint to all this fuss over Barbour's recollections.

The hysteria of liberals over this is quite bizarre. Does not matter who it is, anyone challenging Obama in 2012 will be demonized as a racist.

Haley Barbour is a direct descendant of a Choctaw Indian chief. And cannot imagine what it is like to not know where your grandparents are buried.

K2 K2 makes no sense. I grew up in the South during the '60s, and believe me, it was racist. Citizens Councils stopped the KKK because Citizens Councils put up the front of respectability. Believe me, they supported segregation; anyone saying otherwise is simply lying.

When will the Democratic Party stop thinking it is still 1967?
Even those of us who were teenagers in the 1960's are tired of re-fighting the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights era in the political arena.

Posted by: K2K2
~~~~

When Republicans likes Barbour and others STOP downplaying racial inequality in this country and STOP using race as Wedge Issue's to win elections.

I remember when Trent Lott praised Strom Thurmond on the occasion of his 100th birthday, adding, "When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."

White Southerners, like myself, are tired of apologizing for racism! I was born in 1961 so I was a little too young to be branded a racist! However, I am sick and tired of the race pimps always looking for a white southern racist behind every tree! The Democrat party is simply the party of blacks and liberals--period! They have no other constituency! I my own state of Alabama, there are now 18 white Democrats and 33 black democrats in our state house of representatives. Democrats are the party of food stamps and welfare--nothing more!

"Latinos need to vote against their enemies" - Barack Obama, October 2010

Honestly, I cant think of a more disgusting comment relating to race by any politician for a long time. You'd have to rate it worse than even George Allen, since Obama was premediatatively trying to leverage racial hatred for political gain.

What did you expect ??? just another good old boy from down south wishing we could turn the clock back to the good old days. I'll tell you another one I wouldn't trust as far as I could him is Corker of Tennessee, another big time hypocrite. They call it southern hospitality, service with a smile. mm mm

"Barbour is an efficient and effective governor"...really? Where does Mississippi rank in education? In health care? In infant mortality? In the number of citizens below the poverty level? But he sure knows how to grease the skid for the casino crowd.
As for a "presidential hopeful" - only in his mind. He's a southern caricature - pot bellied, racist, and rich. Not really what appeals to the general public.

@beachbum09 wrote:
"All they know is the false narrative some dingbat, bigoted Northern educational system mythologizes and fabricates"
.
Please tell us which parts about slavery, the civil war, segregation, 'separate but equal', KKK, Jim Crow laws and the quite public beatings and hosing down of peaceful protests aren't what actual video and historical facts tell us they are.

What an appropriate moniker for you. My parents both grew up in Mississippi and i have been going to that state since the mid 60's, so you might beleive Barbours waxing nostalgia of how there was no racism in Yazoo city but i as a white person can tell you first hand i saw and witnessed it for a majority of my life. To this day the Capitol in Jackson still has the same bathroom doors that had colored and white on them, they just painted over the names instead of replacing the door. I love Mississippians but a majority will tell you to your face they dont like black people. Why dont you go down to Mississippi and tell me how much diversity you see?

Haley would say that as a continuing denial of ANYTHING ever happening in Mississippi that has ANYTHING to do with race... He will always say there is nothing that's racial in Mississippi as long as he is alive.

Haley is the Grand Wizard of the State's KKK so he's PAID to do this publicly... You have to either live there now OR have lived thru it's past to laugh at Haley's on-going public lies... I lived thru it's past and watched as it got to where it is (publicly and in reality) today. They are VERY DIFFERENT places.

I challenge you to take a long weekend and fly to Jackson Mississippi International Airport; rent your self a car; get a map of the state and head kinda north-east out of Jackson on US 49 and go to Yazoo City... Get a good flavor of what Haley and his Klan buddies have brought to the area. But THEN, after getting some gas, or even staying the night, mozy on up NW toward Silver City and Indianola - US Hwy 49 W should take you fine.. OR, you can opt to go up toward Greenwood on US Hwy 49 E.. You pick based on how much abject poverty you can stomach in one day.

After that little saunter, either way you choose, get back on the road and head yourself to Cleveland (MS. that is).... When you get to Cleveland, you're in the middle of the Mississippi delta... Home of every vestige of slavery STILL in the US and base of Haley's lie... It should only take you a day, unless you've been overcome by the sadness of this experience so far and need to stay hold up somewhere an extra day to re-group, hit US Hwy. 61 North... head North toward Memphis. What you'll see in the next few hours of that sojourn will change your view PERMANENTLY on everything, any living and serving WHITE politician from that area ever says - publicly or privately - on ANY subject - FOREVER.

EVERYTHING that Haley Barbour says is a hoax. It's a lie and a Fairy Tale of EPIC proportion... and folks keep thinking he's telling them the truth. Haley is one of the WORSE flavor of the racists in our midst. He's one of those that doesn't think racism is real!

EVERYTHING that Haley Barbour says is a hoax. It's a lie and a Fairy Tale of EPIC proportion... and folks keep thinking he's telling them the truth. Haley is one of the WORSE flavor of the racists in our midst. He's one of those that doesn't think racism is real!

beachbum09says "So Barbour's recollection of actually growing up in the South is different than the bigoted Stereotype Yankees conjure up when they denigrate and sneer at all people in the South?"

Whatever, beachbum. Barbour was telling the truth about his experience. Of course he doesn't remember it as that bad, he wasn't concerned about the lives of his black neighbors then and still doesn't seem interested in understanding what life was like for them during segregation. This doesn't meet my definition of racism, but I say it shows very unflattering racial insensitivity for someone who's supposed to be the governor of all Mississippians, and is thinking of running to be President of all Americans.

______________________
exactly. the point isn't his recollection of his childhood as such. it's that he is repeating it now without questioning whether his recollection is accurate. He's referencing what he recalls of White Community Councils (or was told, because I doubt he was following their activities as an 8 year old) without any acknowledgment or appreciation that if he did any research he would know what they were really up to. The point is that if he were serious about civil rights issues he would know that his recollection is seriously flawed and would not have uttered such a ridiculous statement.

The only appropriate thing for him to have said was, "I don't remember it being bad, but I have since come to know how little I knew about how it really was." Except that he hasn't.

So Barbour's recollection of actually growing up in the South is different than the bigoted Stereotype Yankees conjure up when they denigrate and sneer at all people in the South? So What? This is fake outrage and the writer is a moron. Don't these people have anything better to do than go around and try to find some reason to be outraged or offended over the most trivial, comment that they have to recast in order to find grounds for the faux offense? How does some WP dingbat have any clue what it was like in the South when Barbour was growing up? All they know is the false narrative some dingbat, bigoted Northern educational system mythologizes and fabricates. Pleeeeze!?

Posted by: beachbum09
-----------------------------------------
Unless you're, like, 12 years old you'd know that this nation watched the 1960's civil rights movement UNFOLD BEFORE OUR VERY EYES ON TV! Not being able to "recolect" your upbringing in that area, during that time, is INCONCEIVABLE. Instead, Barbour is partaking in the GOP's favorite political parlour game; Historical Revisionism. Thank Yaweh that most people are smarter than to be influenced by such shenanigans: present company excluded.
P.S. Can you tell I went to school?

Regarding that BS, to wit: ".....in sum, when Republicans misstep on the issue of race, they are rightly and roundly lambasted......" Jennifer Rubin reveals that she's a barely disguised political bigot who should probably be deported to somewhere she could be welcome.

The deal is, Jennifer, there'd be NO civil rights acts from the 1960s WITHOUT Republican votes, so we have NOTHING of which to be ashamed in that regard.

Further, you and your Democrat friends would still have slave housemaids and slave bedwarmers if the Republicans hadn't won the Civil War.

Your childish, ignant comments would best be made to your Leftwingtard Democrat friends ~ in your incredibly narrow circle of associates ~ and not to the general public in a public news board.

Frankly, I'm beginning to think we didn't continue the Civil War long enough 'cause that'd given us a chance to do the house to house wet work necessary to make sure there were no more mealy-mouthed churlish Democrats.

It is you who little understand the modern conservatives when you write:"The notion that this is all part of a "Southern strategy" is tinfoil-hat sort of stuff that reminds me how little the left understands today's conservatives.

Richard Nixon's Nixon political strategist Kevin Phillips noted in a 1970 New York Times article:

"From now on, the Republicans are never going to get more than 10 to 20 percent of the Negro vote and they don't need any more than that... but Republicans would be shortsighted if they weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That's where the votes are. Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats." (May 17, 1970)

The modern conservative Republican Party is the child of the "Southern Strategy". Who is wearing a tin-foil hat here?

I am a stauch Republican, but a fat man from Mississippi? I don't think so. We need brains (Sarah doesn't have them) as well as (Barbour doesn't have it). Why do you Democrats keep bringing up people we Republicans would NEVER run as our candidate? Amazing. We don't want anything from an Ivy League school, either, because no matter where they originally come from, after they graduate they the US is only Washington north to the Maine border with Canada. We're sick and tired of that. Keep that in mind, Democrats!

This fat little cracker, former Grand Wizard of the Republican Party, is showing his true colors. Perhaps his memory has been dulled by too much bourbon, pig fat and grits. He and I are the same age. I clearly recall the images of police dogs tearing into African American children trying to go to school, national guard troops escorting students to colleges, and police beating the heck out of African Americans simply seeking equal rights. I too was chasing girls, as Barbour lamely blames for his distraction at an MLK speech, but I certainly wasn't as clueless as this sty wallower claims to have been. He's another Trent Lott. All brought to you by The South -- still a stain on our nation.

The problem with our country is not that we've got Democrats and Republicans fighting each other all the time. It's not that we've got the media begging for sound bites when full-on, rational, sensible, thoughtful debate is what's called for. It's that the people who think they can run this country are nothing more than media hounds who love to hear their own voices. Where are the true statesmen and stateswomen, the ones who not only were educated at the best schools in this country but who have also paid their political and social dues (and I don't mean to fancy country clubs)? Those who served in the foreign service, in the Peace Corps, in the US military. Where are the pedigreed men and women who understand the purpose of governing not just their congressional district or their states but an entire nation? Do you really think that Haley Barbour or Sarah Palin has such a world view? I shudder to think of who they might choose for their trusted advisers.

What is it about Mississippi that makes otherwise very smart people say incredibly stupid things? Barbour had no shot at being president, but I thought he might get a number 2 slot. Looks like he has placed that in jeopardy.

RE:Don't these people have anything better to do than go around and try to find some reason to be outraged or offended over the most trivial, comment that they have to recast in order to find grounds for the faux offense?
*****
We're not outraged or offended, hell, we're not even surprised.

Jennifer,
You may be a conservative but you are not typical. You are not a bigoted, hate-filled, uneducated southerner.
You are probably among the 10% or so of "country club" Republicans who really believe that lower taxes is the solution to all ills.

Posted by: Eddie14 | December 21, 2010 9:51 AM
__________________________________
This comment serves as an indication of why there is little or no civil political debate in American society these days. The poster has launched an ad hominem personal attack on the original writer, along with painting the South as a lot of racists. Not particularly helpful here.

Perhaps it would be more useful (a) actually read the referenced article, (b) restrict comments to Gov. Barber's faux pas, along with other relevant political information, and then (c) draw intelligent conclusions. It's asking a lot, I know, but let's try, shall we?

Its to bad Mr. Lincoln was so devoted to the Union, one could only imagine what good it would have been for this country if he just let Mr. Jeffersons experiment go its merry way. All of the haters, bigots, race baiters and "no gov't" wing nuts all living in a virtual disneyland of hate, while leaving the rest of us alone.

To all of those Repugnant spinners out there, the party of the south was the democratic party. All of that ended in 1964 when after almost 200 years human beings were finally afforded the opportunity to be treated not as animals or chatel but as god's children. When the bigots and haters couldn't deal with it they jumped on board Trickey Dicks under the radar southern strategy. Thats the facts!

Regarding that BS, to wit: ".....in sum, when Republicans misstep on the issue of race, they are rightly and roundly lambasted......" Jennifer Rubin reveals that she's a barely disguised political bigot who should probably be deported to somewhere she could be welcome.

The deal is, Jennifer, there'd be NO civil rights acts from the 1960s WITHOUT Republican votes, so we have NOTHING of which to be ashamed in that regard.

Further, you and your Democrat friends would still have slave housemaids and slave bedwarmers if the Republicans hadn't won the Civil War.

Your childish, ignant comments would best be made to your Leftwingtard Democrat friends ~ in your incredibly narrow circle of associates ~ and not to the general public in a public news board.

Frankly, I'm beginning to think we didn't continue the Civil War long enough 'cause that'd given us a chance to do the house to house wet work necessary to make sure there were no more mealy-mouthed churlish Democrats.
****************************************
What BS.

When is the GOP going to stop pretending that they're still the Party of Lincoln?
That would equivalent to the Democrats claiming they 're still the party of Andy Jackson.

I figured it out early: any candidate who might need sub-titles to speak to the American people, and would definitely need a translator to visit even Canada, is not likely to be a successful Presidential candidate.

Barbour may be a very capable and canny politician, but without at least acceptable diction, he makes even other southernors sound educated.

schmegegge ~ even someone named Jennifer Rubin has NO RIGHT to totally ignore history.

We're quite happy to have her vote and maybe her donations, but when she ignores the 1960s civil rights legislation and the Civil War, it's time for a counter attack against her and her funny little friends ~ whether those buried in the bowels of the Post or just those she knows from home, school and the 'hood.

The hypocrisy from the left on race is astonishing. African Americans always give a pass to Liberals when they say something that most consider racist. Harry Reid was given a pass about his comment about Black Negro Dialect re Obama. Howard Deane was given a pass when he stated Republicans could not get this many black people in a room unless they invited the cleaning crew. Hillary Clinton was given a pass when telling a prominently Hispanic crowd that she would need their brooms and mops to help clean up Washington. Joe Biden was given a pass when he stated you had to have an Indian accent when you went into to any 7-11. And can you imagine the outrage if George Bush said Democrats could join in but would have to ride in the back of the bus. But you let George Allen use a word that 99.99% of everybody on the planet had never heard of, his career was over.
The race war will once again come to our shores and Liberals will have no one to blame but themselves for promoting all this race based BS the last 25 years.

"Latinos need to vote against their enemies" - Barack Obama, October 2010

Honestly, I cant think of a more disgusting comment relating to race by any politician for a long time. You'd have to rate it worse than even George Allen, since Obama was premediatatively trying to leverage racial hatred for political gain.

Posted by: dummypants

~~~

Anyone who consistently uses Race (Blacks & Hispanics) as being a Socialist Agenda, and the number why reason why the Federal Budget is Broke & Busted is the Enemy.

How does some WP dingbat have any clue what it was like in the South when Barbour was growing up? All they know is the false narrative some dingbat, bigoted Northern educational system mythologizes and fabricates. Pleeeeze!?

The facts are Lyndon Johnson ended this relation with white southerners (I assume like you George). The Democrats pushed away those that would not evolve past segregation and the Republicans scooped them up leaving in the Dust their Fiscal Conservative, Educated and Philanthropist past. Oh how we miss the Rockefellers, who paid high taxes, donated the land for the UN and established the SUNY system. This actually is a Southern, Southwestern and Upper Midwest Strategy. I agree this is just a Plot to put Mitt Romney in office.
______________________________________
Just be sure to remember the facts:

jim Crow Law: Written and enforced by Democrats

George Wallace-democrat

Lestor Maddox-democrat

Civil War started by...democrats...to defend their ownership of black slaves

KKK-started by democrats to oppose Reconstruction

The South suffered, as does America under democrats

From the cotton plantation to the welfare plantation, democrats and Black have had an odd relationship

I see the conservatives (and we so-called liberals) searching for a new direction - something that happens with every new generation of voters. But in seeking a new direction, we older generations of voters still have an interest in the "old" ideas and so the parties have to accommodate a lot of diverse, conflicting, disparate ideas, and neither party seems to be able to do that very well.

When the old guard dies off, the conservatives will finally (hopefully) be rid of the racist southern politicians that have so characterized their party for too long, and the liberals can be rid of the ultra-liberals who seem to hijack every convention. Maybe then, both parties can start to find a way to attract the moderates who so desperately need someone to speak for them.

Bubba Barbour's nth Macaca Moment! Relishing indeed! He ought to be popular among Repubs who celibrate such traits as racism, lack of compassion etc.

Posted by: Troglodyte | December 21, 2010 9:36 AM | Report abuse

Excuse me fool, but are you referring to Sen. Byrd, a Democrat and former KKK leader? Or are you referring to Democrat non-support of vouchers which traps generatsion of black children in dysfunctional schools, or are you referring to Democrat opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act?

Do yourself a favor, and educate yourself before making foolish statements in public forum, fool.

Hey, Cartoon Lady, the race based Southern Strategy is alive and well in the South. In my home state of SC, they had a Secession Ball last night in Charleston to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Articles of Secession.

Stay in Virginia and get out of the house and you may run into their brethern, like Gov. McDonnell. If it was a Confederate state 150 years ago, it's a Confederate state now.

For one of the most physically repugnant tubs of lard who ever lived to think he had a real chance to be president was just pure delusion on Haley's part, even before he started talking about what he remembers about the civil rights era.

What Haley Barbour said is a gaffe only if we use the definition that a gaffe is an unguarded utterance of what some one really thinks. Barbour is a good ole boy, a product of the Old South and, like Old Southern thinking, nothing changes, except sometimes the formulation becomes a bit more euphemistic. So far as Barbour's Republican affiliation is concerned: let's face it, the Republican party in the South--and elsewhere--is a continuation of the Dixiecrats. The Solid South remains solid: solidly reactionary, solidly self-righteous, solidly bigoted, and now solidly Republican. The Republican party hasn't been the party of Lincoldn since Richard Nixon launched his "southern strategy" to capture racist reaction against the civil rights movement. No longer the party of Lincoln it is the party of Jeff Davis.

What Haley Barbour said is a gaffe only if we use the definition that a gaffe is an unguarded utterance of what some one really thinks. Barbour is a good ole boy, a product of the Old South and, like Old Southern thinking, nothing changes, except sometimes the formulation becomes a bit more euphemistic. So far as Barbour's Republican affiliation is concerned: let's face it, the Republican party in the South--and elsewhere--is a continuation of the Dixiecrats. The Solid South remains solid: solidly reactionary, solidly self-righteous, solidly bigoted, and now solidly Republican. The Republican party hasn't been the party of Lincold since Richard Nixon launched his "southern strategy" to capture racist reaction against the civil rights movement. No longer the party of Lincoln, it is the party of Jeff Davis.

"Latinos need to vote against their enemies" - Barack Obama, October 2010

Honestly, I cant think of a more disgusting comment relating to race by any politician for a long time. You'd have to rate it worse than even George Allen, since Obama was premediatatively trying to leverage racial hatred for political gain.

Posted by: dummypants

~~~

Anyone who consistently uses Race (Blacks & Hispanics) as being a Socialist Agenda, and the number why reason why the Federal Budget is Broke & Busted is the Enemy.

I would love to respond (I really would) but I cant gleen any coherent meaning whatsoever out of your response.

Obama, on the other hand, was perfectly straight forward and explicit, and his words speak for themselves:

"Latinos need to punish their enemies"

I kinda wish some Republican (say, Sarah Palin) would replace "whites" for "latinos" just to see the 5,000 degree media meltdown that would ensue, lead by Al Sharpton, Rachel Maddow and James Carville.

Being an ignorant racist hick does not really make for good national campaigns. Works just fine in a statewide election in Dixie, which is why it is so disturbing that those backwater cesspool states are going to have even more bubba ignoramus hicks polluting congress in the future. And the bitter irony is that it is primarily because of immigrants coming to those states that the xenophbic knuckle draggers will temporarily gain more power to drag the United States down under the rocks where they dwell.

Regardless of their qualifications and accomplishments (remember the eye of Katrina hit Mississippi) Haley Barbour and Mike Huckabee are too stereotypical "good old boys" to win a Presidential general election.

Wallace switched to the gop, as did the rest of the white racist Democrat establishment. Thurmond, Helms, all those bigots left the Democrats after Thurmond unsuccessfully ran as a "Dixiecrat", then LBJ sheparded through the Civil Rights act of 57 over the objections of his on party's Southern wing, and then Kennedy and LBJ really took up the cause of real equality for all Americans.

And republicons were only too happy to have the bigots join them ever after.

Problenm is that white is no longer going to be a majority in most places really soon. And those southern states still fielding bogots are the ones with a fast growing "brown" population. All those immigrants republicons hate so much are the new faces in those states, and soon the scale will tip irreversably and the old order Dixie lovin' Confederate flag waving racist gop will be gone forever.

Seems these Democrat leftists continue to lose sight of the fact that their racism standby doesn't fly anymore. Obama and the rest of his Democrat leftists used the race card 24/7 in this passed election cycle, and they ended up getting obliterated from top to bottom. And in the next cycle, it only gets worse for them, and that's why we see all of these early shots over the GOP bow. The GOP can run as many candidates as it wish, and they all can bring their piece of the argument as to why the Democrat party needs to be swept into the dustbin of history. And everyone of them can just rewind Obama's 2008 campaign speeches and his battle with the Clintons, and his first 2 years of governing to show why he should be sent back into the shadows in 2012, and the Democrat party sent into oblivion in his wake.

Commenter beachbum09 says: "So Barbour's recollection of actually growing up in the South is different than the bigoted Stereotype Yankees conjure up when they denigrate and sneer at all people in the South? So What? This is fake outrage and the writer is a moron." lol I hardly know where to begin. First, Barbour's recollection is EXACTLY the impression we Yankees have of Southerners - and as demonstrated by Boss Hoggs there, it's for a good reason. Oh, and beachbum, Jennifer Rubin, "the writer" is a right-winger herself. It's amazing how when the Fox viewer type (a recent study showed they are the most uninformed voters in America) get their outrage on they lash out at anyone, even a fellow right-winger. Too funny.

I would love to respond (I really would) but I cant gleen any coherent meaning whatsoever out of your response.

Obama, on the other hand, was perfectly straight forward and explicit, and his words speak for themselves:

"Latinos need to punish their enemies"

I kinda wish some Republican (say, Sarah Palin) would replace "whites" for "latinos" just to see the 5,000 degree media meltdown that would ensue, lead by Al Sharpton, Rachel Maddow and James Carville.

Posted by: dummypants

~~~

You know exactly what I am talking about, Dummy, which is why you claim you can't respond.

Republicans are the ENEMY when they say:

1. If it were NOT for Blacks and Hispanics taking out SUB-PRIME Loans to buy houses the Economy would NOT have Collapsed.

2. If it were not for illegal Hispanics and their ANCHOR babies, using the U.S., Health Care system, the costs of Health care would not cost, so much for the rest of us.

3. If it were NOT for ALL of these uneducated and poor Blacks and Hispanics on WELFARE the GOV'T would NOT be SOOO BIIIG and we would NOT have to pay into the U.S., Tax System for SS, Medicare, and Medicaid.

4. Blacks are just LAAAAAZZZZY. Always looking for a handout and for the Gov't to take care of them. Even those down in LA, Mississippi, Alabama that were negatively impacted by Hurricane Katrina. They are just LAZY, why didn't they get out.

I could go on and on and on, but there just ain't that much time in a day, Dummy.

For the life of me, either people out here are wearing blinders and ear plugs or they just don't have any insight as to what constitutes a true blue racist bigot. This guy has been running with the same agenda for all these many years, and yet, the news outlets and many people in general are all of a sudden taken back that he carries a load a racial animosity on his shoulders?

Amazing

Shouldn’t be surprise though, cause many on this planet were somehow taken back because of what Trent Lott said, and what of the civil rights era, when many were appalled at how black people were being treated in this county once it was flashed across a TV screen.

@st50taw wrote:
"When is the GOP going to stop pretending that they're still the Party of Lincoln?"
.
Minnesota GOP party just banished some GOP activists, including one whose grandfather actually helped get Lincoln elected.
.
So maybe they are getting around to it ;-)
.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10346/1110161-473.stm

So the idea that the Republicans had and have a "southern strategy" is tin-foil hat stuff?

Yeah, and racism toward Obama doesn't exist in the Republican party. The strategy of painting him as "other" "muslim" and "socialist," not to mention foreign-born--none of that has a racist tinge. Maybe the left (and center) actually DO understand conservatives. Maybe better than Rubin.

hared Said:
Seems these Democrat leftists continue to lose sight of the fact that their racism standby doesn't fly anymore. Obama and the rest of his Democrat leftists used the race card 24/7 in this passed election cycle
____________________________________________

Got any proof to back up those fairy tales or are you still drunk with ignorance after that last Klan meeting you attended

I wonder if will take until the primaries until caviar-Republicans like Rubin finally realize that the GOP isn't their party anymore. At least not theirs alone.

The problem with primaries is that actual rank and file (with emphasis on the rank part) Republicans vote in them. Those Republicans wouldn't make it through the first paragraph of Rubin's drawn out sniff of disdain. Too many big words.

But those Republicans do have TVs. Some of them even know how to work the intertubes. And if the TV and intertubes show them a candidate who worships Supply-Side Jebus and hates the queer mooslin communist Obamma, then that candidate looks just fine. It don't matter what the GOP big-wigs say or who they think is fitting. They ain't the ones who get to decide.

Got any proof to back up those fairy tales or are you still drunk with ignorance after that last Klan meeting you attended

Posted by: richdj25 | December 21, 2010 12:53 PM |

Actually, I'm still mulling the affects of all of that champagne that I chugged all night long on the 2nd of last month, after the race baiting leftist Democrat party got the worse beating by the GOP since the 30s. So, you can say I might still be a little groggy and giddy, but feeling a whole lot better than you punch drunk Democrat leftists, soon to left out. Happy days are here again, the skies above...well, you get the rest.

"when Republicans misstep on the issue of race, they are rightly and roundly lambasted. " but not by Republicans...no, it they just jump on the bandwagon after the Democrats and independent bring the racist's foolishness into public view.

The "Southern Strategy" is no tinfoil hat conspiracy....it is a matter of public knowledge. The Republicans have been using racism and fear for 50 years now...where have you been, Jennifer Rubin? Head buried in the sand, apologist for the racist facist wing of the Republican party?

That puffed up redneck should have never been considered for national office. It was stupid to discuss good old Haley as a presidential candidate. Who would want someone as President who proudly rules the state who comes in first in poverty and last in education? Haley is proud of that record and would have run a national campaign citing his "success" in Mississippi.

Civil War started by...democrats...to defend their ownership of black slaves

KKK-started by democrats to oppose Reconstruction

The South suffered, as does America under democrats

From the cotton plantation to the welfare plantation, democrats and Black have had an odd relationship

Posted by: georgedixon1
=========================================
Playing the race card again I see!! You do realize that there are MORE white people on welfare than black don't you? You really need to give up that tired, worn out stereotype of the Welfare Queen being black!! MORON

Mr. Barbour can not be serious about running for President. He should try to get a celebrity position with Nutri Food Systems and lose 80-90 pounds to look a normal human being instead of a boxcar hobo.

Civil War started by...democrats...to defend their ownership of black slaves

KKK-started by democrats to oppose Reconstruction

The South suffered, as does America under democrats

From the cotton plantation to the welfare plantation, democrats and Black have had an odd relationship

Posted by: georgedixon1
=========================================
Playing the race card again I see!! You do realize that there are MORE white people on welfare than black don't you? You really need to give up that tired, worn out stereotype of the Welfare Queen being black!! MORON

Though I'd not move the notion that Barbour's comments were a way of restating his credentials as a southern Republican to the tin-foil hat category, it just reminds us whom the Republican Party married to get to where it is today. As for Barbour being a novice at national politics--really? His time as head of the RNC gave him plenty of exposure to national politics. He just demonstrated for those who didn't notice that Southern Republicans have a highly selective grasp of their own history.

Perhaps there is NO Republican who will be acceptable to all factions of this splintered party. If a moderate moves out ahead, the Tea Party faction will bring him/her down. If a Tea Party nutjob pulls ahead, the folks who really want an electable candidate will torpedo him/her. The social conservatives won't give their stamp of approval to anyone but a 'Christian' (i.e. Baptist, Pentecostal, or similar non-Mormon and non-Catholic). The future promises to be a real circus. That's to say, full of elephants, clowns, high-wire acts, fierce lions, and seals balancing colored balls on their noses....

" More important, why isn't the 12% of the population that is black speaking out against political interests that continue using them as a kickball on the school playground?"

That will happen right after the tea party and fundamental christians realize they have been taken for a ride by the republican party, and right after 99% of the American people depose the oligarchy that fails to represent the american people but instead represents their 'base' which consists of a few very rich texas oil men and their numerous inbred relatives.

It's amazing what the truth does to some people. Is the anger at 911 fake outrage? is the illness of the first responders fake? The comment by the Woman who's words were taken out of context about not doing her all to help a white farmer, was the reaction fake outrage? Is Southern paranoia of Yankees fake? Where the weapons of Mass destruction fake or real? White Southerners bear the weight of one of the Darkest periods in America's History and the constant denial is very telling. You don't have to be what you are. you can change at any time. But change means accepting certain truths. Haley Barbour should know better. America has invaded other Nations for less than the horrors that took place in the South. Anyone denying this reality should be viewed with skepticism for it cast doubt about their mental fitness. IT HAPPENED! ACCEPT IT! GET OVER IT!

Well said, beachbum09: "So Barbour's recollection of actually growing up in the South is different than the bigoted Stereotype Yankees conjure up when they denigrate and sneer at all people in the South? So What? This is fake outrage and the writer is a moron. Don't these people have anything better to do than go around and try to find some reason to be outraged or offended over the most trivial, comment that they have to recast in order to find grounds for the faux offense? How does some WP dingbat have any clue what it was like in the South when Barbour was growing up? All they know is the false narrative some dingbat, bigoted Northern educational system mythologizes and fabricates. Pleeeeze!?"

As an old geezer who grew up in the South, I have lived and worked extensively beside people from all parts of the country and from many walks of life, and it is my observation that people in the South are no more prejudiced and bigoted than those from the North. I find that many of the outspoken and so-called racially tolerant do their speaking from the protection of their gated communities. It must be nice to use your wallet to place yourself on a pedestal above us mere mortals.

If Ms. Rubin truly wants to speak out against bigotry and unfairness, maybe she should write about the problems with reverse discrimination. Surely she must recognize the hypocrisy of making one person, because of skin color, step to the rear of the line just to allow a person of a different color first place in the line.

I have championed equal opportunity all my life. Still, it worries that in this country, we have been practicing reversed discrimination for nearly half a century to give those who were unfairly left behind and equal opportunity to catch up. Trust me; the people who haven't caught up by now are never going to catch up. It's time we put this self-serving holier than thou attitude behind us. Instead, we should be offering true equality for everyone.

Dear Southern Republicans (and also for those who sympathize with them):

Pointing out that Robert Byrd, who is deceased and is no longer a member of the US Senate, was involved in the KKK more than 60 years ago does not excuse the intolerable actions and words of those currently active in your party today, regarding African-Americans and Hispanics. Nor does reflexively waving the names Jesse Jackson and Maxine Waters, as if their words and actions somehow provide you with a license to promote white supremacy.

It is telling that you choose to focus on everything but the actions and words of the people who are in leadership positions of your party: governors who openly praise the Citizens' Councils, governors like McDonnell who openly promote the "rights" of states to nullify federal laws, AGs like Cuccinelli who openly seek to undermine better health care for us all, and Senate leaders like McConnell who do nothing but publically hope that a black President will fail.

People are not blind. Your ignorance will not prevail. Revisionist history and false equivalencies are dogs that won't hunt in the 21st Century.

I see. So these conservative oopsies are mere peccadilloes. It was pure coincidence that Dawson found his southern country club had neglected to invite blacks...must have been some kind of oversight. The GOP leaders are guilty of only "appearing clueless about the history of racial injustice in the South." These are just errors, the worst of which are "remarkably self-defeating things" but "the fact remains that the vast majority of modern conservatives don't tolerate this sort of thing."

This is sickening.

To minimize the rantings of a bigoted puke like Haley Barbour is simply revolting. These are not "self-defeating things" these are racial slurs filled with decades of hatred and the complacent acceptance of status quo injustice. Do you actually believe a redneck pig like Katon Dawson would join a club that allowed blacks? The fact that Barbour is even allowed in the society of people without white sheets shows how ignorant and forgetful this country has become. And describing Rand Paul's avowed belief in turning back civil rights legislation as a gaff, even a mega-gaff, is the worst kind of self-serving and deliberate obfuscation. Paul has never fully recanted that statement truthfully. He still believes his sophomoric, Ayn Rand view of the world is more important than the bigotry that pollutes the life of every black person and diminishes white southerners who know and act better.

I'm a white, middle-aged, southern, male, suburban WASP and I find this article and this attitude revolting in the extreme. Trying to find excuses and simpering reasons for the behavior of these GOP gorgons is infuriating. Fatuous tools like you, who call themselves conservatives, are really Republican operatives willing to ignore principles, even good "conservative" principles like justice, fairness and truth, in order to get your people elected. The easy way you champion this garbage further proves you have no claim to calling yourself a journalist. It is often possible to see both sides of an issue and good citizens and journalists should try, but you are soft pedaling bigotry to pimp the GOP and its corrupt leadership.

Either you are unfamiliar with or denying the history and existence of Nixon's "southern strategy" which is alive and well in today's GOP:

"The Southern strategy refers to the late-20th century Republican Party strategy of winning elections in Southern states by exploiting anti-African American racism among Southern white voters and appealing to states' rights. Though the "Solid South" had been a longtime Democratic Party stronghold in the century following the American Civil War, many Southern Democrats were alienated from the party following the African American Civil Rights Movement, the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson, and desegregation."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy

"Politicians Lie, Numbers Don't
And the numbers show that Democrats are better for the economy than Republicans."

Haley might have the Tea Party vote and even so other uneducated voters who believe his Twilight Zone history of America. It really sound good to me except I lived during the Civil Rights years and even saw whites in Mississippi enjoying a picnic while a black man was hanging from a tree. Yes the horror of that point and of the pass was seen and read but we're now to believe it was all made up. Black came to the US by way of Ellis Island and had the same rights as whites. Blacks begged to be slaves and tortured/raped/beaten by their Masters you can bet some Americans are so dumb they would believe that story. Go Haley run run and Obama will win by a land slide because their aren't that many dumb Americans at lease not yet.

I really love all those morons who are either so stupid or so disingenuous that they think that the Democratic racists who switched parties to become Republican racists are somehow examples of what the Democratic party is today. I can just imagine how much modern day Republicans wish that Hayes hadn't ended Reconstruction.

Barbour has as much chance being president as Palin has of joining Mensa. Barbour is the quintessential good ol' boy, racist to the core, southern redneck, albeit with some education. Others of his ilk might vote for him, but most Americans would not.

Mr. Barbour's insensitive remarks, of course, reflect only his perspective of life in the South in the 1960's. I'm sure life was great for whites in the South during that time. Most Christians in Nazi Germany thought life was just hunky-dory--unless you happened to be Jewish.

silencedogoodreturns Posted :
overweight, white, good ole boy is a characterture of all that is such a turnoff to so many people. There's no way he can overcome that image.
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That is a textbook racist bigot remark.

Ah- I look forward to that- southern secession by itself could probably instantly solve US budget problems. Red states take in WAY more $$ than they send and tend to be populated with folks who are fascinated with war (but don't want to pay for them)Thanks for the suggestion!

I wonder if Jennifer Rubin really "understands" southern conservatives? I lived in Houston and Miami for a total of ten years, and from my personal expereince, the Haley Barbour attitude that "it wasn't all that bad" in the South in the 50's and 60's, is a long time in existence. Usually the other parts of this argument are that "some of my best friends were black (it use to be negro)", and "they (blacks) were like children, and you Northeners came down and provoked all of us into a fight". Oh yea, Ms. Rubin understands southern conservatives. Barbour's generation in the South was particularly angry with the Civil Rights success because their "good life" was being lost. No more cheap labor and easy times of domination and control. Yea, she understands.

I've been around now for seventy years, and I'm well aware who should be ashamed of themselves on this issue. As for Democrats and Republicans in the South, there was a simple change of labels for most (not all) starting in the late seventies, and propelled by one Phil Graham from Texas. The labels may have changed, but for the die-hard southern conservatives, the attitudes have pretty much endured untouched. The tactic of violence was finally eliminated, but the demoanizing and fear mongering continues to this day. 9/11 was a horrible day in this country's history, but Blacks were facing that kind of terrorism every day in the South, with their homes and churches being bombed. How quickly we forget. As Gov. Barbour says, It wasn't all that bad in Mississippi"

It is amusing to note how many people posted here noting how the most virulent racists of yesteryear were Democrats and how in the 1960 many important civil rights bills were passed with important Republican support. This is most certainly true but that is entirely the point of the Southern Strategy isn't it? All of the old "Yellow Dog" racist Democrats left that party and joined the Republicans (e.g. Strom Thurman). Conversely, while Republican support for civil rights bills was important, it was liberal and progressive Republicans who supported them, conservative republicans. Opposition to civil rights bills came form CONSERVATIVE Republicans and Democrats.

"The notion that this is all part of a "Southern strategy" (which Greg Sargent tells us is being discussed in the left-leaning blogosphere) is tinfoil-hat sort of stuff that reminds me how little the left understands today's conservatives."

Right! Today's conservatives aren't racist at all! Just look at these e-mails from GOP candidate Carl Paladino. He's clearly promoting racial harmony by helpfully telling African-Americans to get out of the way of landing planes (caption: "Run, N's, Run.") Where does anyone get the idea that today's conservatives are racist?

dkimbrough wrote: "It is amusing to note how many people posted here noting how the most virulent racists of yesteryear were Democrats and how in the 1960 many important civil rights bills were passed with important Republican support. This is most certainly true but that is entirely the point of the Southern Strategy isn't it? All of the old "Yellow Dog" racist Democrats left that party and joined the Republicans (e.g. Strom Thurman). Conversely, while Republican support for civil rights bills was important, it was liberal and progressive Republicans who supported them, conservative republicans. Opposition to civil rights bills came form CONSERVATIVE Republicans and Democrats.

This just underlines the success of the Republican Southern Strategy."

____________________________________________

Exactly. As Nixon political strategist Kevin Phillips put it in an interview included in a 1970 New York Times article:

"From now on, the Republicans are never going to get more than 10 to 20 percent of the Negro vote and they don't need any more than that... but Republicans would be shortsighted if they weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That's where the votes are. Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats."

The strategy worked and all the racists quickly jumped to the GOP where they remain today.